The council narrowly passed a contract it had opposed for months, voting 5-4 to approve hiring the Miller-Canfield law firm to advise the mayor on the city's financial reform path.

Council members JoAnn Watson, Brenda Jones, Kwame Kenyatta and Andre Spivey voted against the contract, continuing to city a perceived conflict of interest because Miller Canfield was involved in drafting the financial stability agreement with the state.

Many in the angry, overflowing crowd that attended the pivotal meeting spoke out against the sale this morning, saying
neighborhoods need many small urban agriculture operations rather large-scale, corporate operations.

Detroit City Council hears comments from the public Tuesday morning ahead of a series of pivotal votes surrounding the city's financial reform path and the proposed sale of a large swath of land for a timber farm.(Screengrab from public recording)

City officials
argue that selling the land would bring in much needed new property
taxes and create jobs, while there is much more vacant land in the city
that could be used in smaller operations.

The meeting was called into recess at one point when one activist refused to stop shouting and lay on the floor when asked to leave. She was a ultimately allowed to stay.

But with the threat of an emergency financial manager looming, the council approved the measures contracts the state is asking for, including auditing and advisory contracts and authorization to reduce of hours for council and mayor's office staff.

Mayor Dave Bing thanked the council for the cooperation and officials expect the actions to result in the release the $30 million, but state Treasurer Andy Dillon has already initiated a 30-day review that could still lead to the appointment of an emergency financial manager.